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Edwardian Period 1901 - 1910

The Edwardian period. This historic theme explores Britain as it slips from the pinnacle of it's triumph as an Empire. In this short period politicians grappled with the new emerging Empire. Use our timeline and maps to examine the multiple layers of the Edwardian period.

"I don't mind praying to the eternal Father but I must be the only man in the country afflicted with an eternal mother. "

King Edward VII had spent most of his life waiting in the wings as Prince of Wales. His mother, Queen Victoria, became Britain's longest reigning monarch whilst Edward waited to be granted a position and responsibilities which, Queen Victoria was reluctant to give. With time on his hands the Prince brought scandal to the royal family with two citations in divorce cases. It was difficult to imagine how Edward could adjust his playboy lifestyle to become King after his mothers death but he managed to make the role his own with the help of his long suffering wife, Queen Alexandria of Denmark.

King Edward VII the Duke of York and clarence Queen Alexandria and the king's daughters

King Edward VII, steers the country into the new Edwardian period.

Almost as if the turning of the century heralded in a new world perspective, a shift from European dominance to a rise in the power of America and Japan and an emerging independent India so King Edward VII came to power. Although politicians such as Joseph Chamberlain were concerned with maintaining Britain at the heart of global trade so other politicians and the King himself were more concerned with the threat from a previous ally closer to home, Germany. Unification and industrialization during the latter part of the 19th century had made Germany into a great economic and military power.

Edward VII was known as the 'Peacemaker'. He was concerned that his nephew, Kaiser Willhelm II had a vision for the German people that would drive a rift through Europe and tip Europe towards war. His fears proved to be well-founded.

King Edward VII his nephew Kaiser Wilhelm II with Queen Alexandria and the future King George V.

Edwardian politics and society.

The Edwardian Period and the period up to what is called the modern period occupies a small time frame but one in which world and domestic politics were turned on their respective heads. The working classes found their voice in the trade union movement and the role of women in society began, fundamentally to change. Tumult in Government caused King Edward to become embroiled in politics and he became involved in the debacle when the Conservatives in the House of Lords refused to approve the Liberals "Peoples Budget". The King was so dismayed that he introduced his son as the "the Last King of England" to the Foreign Secretary of the day. He had tried to intervene and urged the Conservatives, Balfour and Lansdowne, to pass the budget. Winston Churchill and Lloyd George were the 'Radicals' in the thick of the action proposing change. The people were finding a voice and nothing would ever be the same again. The death of King Edward in 1910 was absorbed as the politics continued to role over daily life. The Parliament Act of 1911 would ultimately resolve the constitutional relationship between the Commons and the Lords. The age old concerns about the role of the monarch and Parliament and the relative roles of the Commons and the Lords had made its final transition. Never again could the Lords of the Land ultimately stop the democratic will of the people.This complex period can be examined more fully in our Edwardian timeline which we are are adding to dynamically.

After the death of King Edward VII.

The times were changing, a World War was approaching and the new king, King George V would steer Britain into the Modern Era.

There would be a change of name for the monarchy and a break with their German past but the world is beginning to creak and the political and economic environment that created conditions for world war just four years after the death of King Edward would create the fractures and fissures that would, for generations, lead us to the present day and the complicated and fractious situation in the Middle East.

Dates

Events /Narrative

Categories

Jan 22 1901

Death of Queen Victoria. She passed away at Osborne on the Isle of Wight. It was captured by a motion camera.

Jan 23 1901

Accession of King Edward

Feb 2 1901

Funeral of Queen Victoria

Feb 4 1901

The keel of the 'Holland' submarine was laid down. The order was placed with Messrs. Vickers.

Mar 16 1901

Duke and Duchess of Cornwall depart on their Colonial tour.

Mar 31 1901

The 1901 census reveals that the population of the United Kingdom has almost doubled in 50 years, to 38 million

The first establishment dedicated solely to cinema was opened in Islington.

Art

Aug 6 1901

Robert Falcon Scott sets off in the Discovery on his first expedition to the Antarctic.

Sep 1901

Taff Vale Judgement, a landmark in the development of the Labour Party. Workers on the Taff Vale Railway took action to gain the right to join a trade union. The railway company sought damages from the union for losses incurred during the strike. The House of Lords granted £42,000 plus costs against the union, thereby severely limiting the right to strike.

1901

First Nobel Prizes were awarded.

Science, invention

Oct 1901

Rudyard Kipling's novel 'Kim' is published.

Literature

Oct 1901

Britain's first submarine launched.

Military

Dec 1901

Guglielmo Marconi transmits a radio message in Morse code 2100 miles, from Poldhu in Cornwall to St John's in Newfoundland

Science, invention

1902

A polygraph machine is invented by James Mackenzie.

Science, invention

1902

Balfours Education Act was a highly controversial Act of Parliament which standardized and upgraded the educational systems of England and Wales, and led to a rapid growth of secondary schools

Education

March 1902

Cecil Rhodes 'the architect of Empire' dies.

People, politics

May 1902

Boer War ends.

War

July 22 1902

Cremation Act The major purpose of the Act was to allow burial authorities to establish crematoria.

Politics

July 31 1902

Midwives Act. The stated purpose of the Act was ‘to secure the better training of midwives and to regulate their practice’. A woman could not call herself, nor practise as a midwife, unless she was certified under the Act. If she contravened this, she was liable to be fined by her local magistrates’ court up to £5. However, until 1 April 1910, there was a loophole — a woman could still practice midwifery, providing she didn’t call herself a ‘midwife’ or imply that she was one.

Politics

July 1902

Arthur Balfour succeeds Salisbury as Conservative Prime Minister.

Aug 9 1902

Coronation of Edward VII, delayed from July because of the King's appendicitis.

British troops under Francis Younghusband enter Tibet's holy city of Lhasa.

Feb 1904

War breaks out between Russia and Japan when the Russian fleet attacks at Port Arthur.

Apr 1904

Entente Cordiale signed with France.

May 1904

Rolls-Royce car manufacturing company formed.

Dec 1904

J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up opens in London.

1905

The Bloomsbury Group begin to meet.

Jan 22 1905

Bloody Sunday is the name given to the events of Sunday in St Petersburg, Russia, when unarmed demonstrators led by Father Georgy Gapon were fired upon by soldiers of the Imperial Guard as they marched towards the Winter Palace to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. 40 people died.

1905

English engineer Herbert Austin sets up a factory to manufacture cars at Longbridge, south of Birmingham

1905

Hitler moves to Vienna, hoping to be a painter, but is twice rejected as a student by the Academy of Fine Arts

Jan 1905

By popular demand, Arthur Conan Doyle brings his famous detective back from the 'dead' in a new book, The Return of Sherlock Holmes.

May 1905

Women's Suffrage Bill 'talked out' in Commons.

June 1905

Automobile Association founded.

July 1905

Einstein's Theory of Relativity proposed.

Aug 1905

Lord Curzon resigns as Viceroy of India.

Oct 1905

Christabel Pankhurst and Annie Kenney arrested: start of the militant phase of the Suffrage movement.

Dec 1905

Balfour resigns. Henry Campbell-Bannerman leads the Liberals to a massive election victory in the UK on a promised programme of reform.

1906

English biologist William Bateson uses the word 'genetics' to describe the phenomenon of heredity and variation

1906

E. Nesbit publishes The Railway Children, the most successful of her books featuring the Bastable family

1906

The Cunard company launches the Lusitania on the Clyde as a sister ship to the Mauretania